Unholy Kingdom
Regular price
€18.50
A01=Malise Ruthven
Author_Malise Ruthven
Category=JPSL
Category=NHG
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
fossil fuel
Iran
Islam
Israel
MBS
Mecca
Middle East
Oil
Riyadh
Saud
Sunni
Trump
Wahhabism
Product details
- ISBN 9781839760112
- Weight: 317g
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 24 Feb 2026
- Publisher: Verso Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In recent years, the de facto head of the House of Saud, Mohammed bin Salman, has promoted the oil-rich kingdom as an open, liberalizing nation that has invested in culture, tourism, and social innovation to become a beacon for the region. Malise Ruthven, a leading commentator on Islamic affairs, reveals the historical currents beneath these changes: how the royal house co-opted Wahhabism to consolidate its power and enforce authoritarianism in collusion with Western businesses and governments.
Malise Ruthven worked as an editor with the BBC Arabic Service and World Service in London before teaching Islamic studies and comparative religion at universities on both sides of the Atlantic. He is the author of several books on Islamic affairs as well as fundamentalism and religion in America. In 2004, London's Prospect Magazine ranked Ruthven among the 100 top public intellectuals in the UK. His blog on the New York Review of Books, Revolution by Latrine, won an award from the Overseas Press Club of America in 2011. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, Independent, The Financial Times, New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books.
